Monday, December 20, 2010

Rainy dayz and Beauty.

For the past few days here in Vegas it has been rainy, colder, windy at times and just plain Yuk! But it is Winter and this is how it is around here, not always fun in the Sun in the desert. However, this type weather is certainly not working with My plan for my last push to taper for Hurt100.

My Plan was to have this week my last big week and than head to taper at Christmas time, which in the grand scheme of things tapering down from 70 miles + is still 50 miles-ish so with the weather rearranging things I am now basically playing with my run times and just trying to stay in the game. I mean, Okay, I could get out there and run in the rain, get all soaked up, freeze and basically not have a good time but since entering the long training days of ultra running I have told myself you have to enjoy being out there running or you will simply look for every excuse to cut the run short simply because you are not having fun and with the weather the way it is, for me, it's not fun! So I am basically just looking for my run windows and take advantage when I can.

According to weather reports, this Thursday the skies will part and for the next week after it will look to be good running times and with that I will be 15-20 days out and taper will have to commence, although if we are keeping track of numbers, I am basically on taper now with about 30-50 miles this week and probably next and if we translate that into hours somewhere between 8-14 hours. I think my main goal here is not to let my self get mentally beat in worrying about how much training I am getting or not getting in the next 3 weeks but simply take advantage of the rest on the legs while giving them just enough exercise to not lose site of the main job we are up against come Jan 15th!

If I have to say, overall I am feeling ready but being this far out still just seems a little too far ahead to be "ready" and wait, Ready? Are you really ever ready for a 100 miler? Honestly, I don't know because I have not attempted one but I do know I feel the same as when I did my first Ironman in terms of doubting my readiness! and I do know I feel more ready today than when I did the 100k back in October.

I will start planning all my aid stations, drops, logistics of the race and going over all my details in my head over the next couple of weeks and making sure my plan is in my head so come race day all I have to do is run and not worry about things and just take it as it comes. It's a lot to do in the short amount of time so I better get with it.

On a side note, my wonderful girlfriend Dez is doing great considering Chemo treatments but she made it through round 1 of 6, this week is 2 of 6. She has a great heart and positive outlook on all this and that keeps her strong. I will say this week seemed to be a little harder because her hair really started to thin and come out even after cutting her hair short from day 1. So with the strong heart she asked me to cut it all off for her last night. At first there was discussions about why and why not to cut it but finally it came down to she wanted to cut it. We broke out the clippers and as hard as it was to see her crying before I made the first pass, I was standing there with doubt in my mind she said "I can do this!" covered her eyes and said Go! When it was all done she had a nice buzz cut #4. She no longer cried and we laughed together about it, simply because she is as Beautiful with hair as without. You're the bestest Dez!